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Date: Tuesday, 26-Nov-96 00:06:36 GMT
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<TITLE>PARALLEL & DISTRIBUTED OPERATING SYSTEMS GROUP</TITLE>

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<td> <!WA4><A HREF="http://www.pdos.lcs.mit.edu/~kaashoek"><address><b>M. Frans Kaashoek</b></a>,<br>Assistant Professor <br>of Computer Science and Engineering </address>
	</td><td><!WA5><a href="http://larch-www.lcs.mit.edu:8001/~corbato"> <address><b>Fernando J. Corbat&oacute</b></a>,<br>Ford Professor<br>of Engineering</address></td>
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The Parallel and Distributed Operating Systems Group
conducts software research for parallel and distributed
computing systems. The Group collaborates extensively with
other LCS researchers.
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We take a pragmatic approach by focusing on three primary
goals: simplifying the parallel and distributed programming
process, building efficient distributed systems with
off-the-shelf technology that also can be used for parallel
supercomputing, and building scalable, flexible,
high-performance storage services for these distributed
systems.
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The first goal is addressed by a software-based
shared-memory system, called Autopilot, that combines the
ease of shared-memory programming with the physical
scalability of distributed systems. Autopilot's novel
aspects include the automatic management of locality and
work distribution.
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Secondly, the <!WA6><A HREF="http://www.pdos.lcs.mit.edu/exo.html">Exokernel</a> is a novel operating system
microkernel that provides low-overhead protected
communication and a user-customizable kernel interface.
Efficient communication is an especially valuable mechanism
for structuring complex systems, since it allows the
systems to be decomposed into separate protection domains.
By allowing user customization, applications can set their
own policies instead of being harnessed in a default kernel
policy.
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Our research into high-performance storage systems is
represented by the Logical Disk (LD), which separates file
and disk management so that different file systems can be
run efficiently over the same LD. We also are extending the
three goals to include mobile distributed systems.

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